Cedar Falls police take another look at 35-year-old murder case

Cedar Falls police are marking the anniversary of the city’s only unsolved murder by re-examining the case. Thirty-five years ago, Dennis Clougherty was shot to death while hitch-hiking from Madison, Wisconsin.

The 23-year-old University of Wisconsin graduate student was attempting to get to Wyoming to retrieve his repaired motorcycle, when he was killed. Authorities know Clougherty stopped for dinner at an Independence café and made it to Waterloo the night before his death. His body was found in a ditch on the morning of August 13th, 1974, near a busy intersection on the western edge of Cedar Falls.

The motive for Clougherty’s death has never been determined. Police say they’ re-examining the cold case, hoping someone will come forward with a potential lead. New technologies could then help investigators solved the crime.